Scotch and Water

Scotch and Water is a story about the sea phase of rum-running on Puget Sound from British Columbia, Canada, to Seattle, Washington, during the years 1920 to 1926. The only effective barrier was one small antiquated Coast Guard cutter, the Sentinel. It was described as a donkey chasing gazelles. However, due to the honesty and cunning of the cutter’s captain, Karl Hirsch, the Sentinel compiled a record of “captures” matched by no other seagoing unit in the Northwest. This is a story of characters “violating an ‘unjust law’”—the intrigue, pursuits, the loves and the lives of the participants, and the disastrous results for nearly all.